Winfield Scott Hancock

Winfield Scott Hancock (14 February 1824-9 February 1886) was a Major-General of the US Army during the American Civil War. Hancock commanded the II Corps of the Union Army of the Potomac, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 and in the Virginia campaign of 1864, and he would later commanded forces against the Native Americans in the American West during the late 1860s and early 1870s. Hancock attempted to pursue a political career as the Democratic Party's 1880 presidential candidate, but he was ultimately defeated by the Republican Party's nominee, James A. Garfield.

Biography
Winfield Scott Hancock was born in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania on 14 February 1824, and he was named after War of 1812 hero Winfield Scott. He graduated 18th in a class of 25 in 1844, and he was assigned to the US Army infantry. Hancock fought at Contreras and Churubusco during the Mexican-American War, serving in his namesake's army. After the war, he served as a regimental quartermaster in the Midwest, and he was involved with supplying US forces fighting against the Seminoles in Florida during the outbreak of violence in the region during the 1850s.

American Civil War
On 23 September 1861, he was promoted to Brigadier-General at the start of the American Civil War, commanding a brigade in William F. Smith's division of the Army of the Potomac. In November 1862, he was promoted to Major-General, and he was wounded at both Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. In July 1863, Hancock distinguished himself at the Battle of Gettysburg, in which he was wounded while defending Cemetery Hill from George Pickett's Virginia division. Hancock was wounded in the battle, preventing him from seeing his former friend and battlefield adversary, Lewis Armistead, who had fought for the Confederacy during the war. Hancock recuperated in time to lead II Corps during Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign in Virginia, shattering the Stonewall Brigade at the "Bloody Angle" during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. On 12 August 1864, he was promoted to Brigadier-General in the regular army after taking part in the assault on Deep Bottom, and he suffered his only notable defeat at Ream's Station on 25 August of that year. II Corps suffered 40,000 casualties during the campaign of 1864, and he gave up field command in November.

Postwar career
After the war, Hancock would supervise the executions of the conspirators in President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, and he commanded US troops on the Great Plains in the years after the war, waging war against the Cheyenne and other Native American tribes of the region. In 1880, Hancock secured the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States, and he ran a strong campaign, with people lauding his status as a war hero. However, he was narrowly defeated by Republican Party challenger James A. Garfield, and he would become President of the National Rifle Association in 1881. He died in New York City, New York on 9 February 1886 from diabetes at the age of 61.